hollywood melon man

Chapter 391 Downhill Road ( words)
Although "The Fault in Our Stars" won the box office championship for two weeks during this not-so-hot period, its good days were coming to an end in the third week.

Because this week, the sequel to the extremely popular work "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" will be released.

The impact of the series of movies is still vivid in our memory. Not only is the box office high, but the word of mouth is also good. More importantly, the Harry Potter series is a work suitable for all ages and is suitable for the whole family to watch together.

However, starting this week, the film "The Fault in Our Stars" has been released in major overseas markets and has achieved fairly good results.

Surprisingly, the reputation of the movie "The Fault in Our Stars" is much better in East Asia than in North America. Maybe this kind of heartfelt movie can touch their hearts better?

However, due to its common characteristics of low-budget productions, the film's overseas box office is actually not high.

In the more than ten countries where it was released in its first week, the film only took in $2251 million in its first week box office, which is indeed not high.

However, Warner Bros. and Disney did not become dissatisfied with Gilbert Jr. just because the North American and overseas box office performance was not as good as before.

The reason is very simple. "The Fault in Our Stars" performed as expected for a low-budget production in the market, and even exceeded expectations.

According to the current box office situation, a global box office of over 1.5 million US dollars is the level that "The Fault in Our Stars" can achieve.

The total investment of this film is only 1200 million US dollars. Just based on the current box office, "The Fault in Our Stars" has already achieved full profitability.

Of course, the cost was so low because Gilbert Jr. only received a symbolic salary of one dollar.

Otherwise, with Gilbert Jr.'s current net worth, he could make two "The Fault in Our Stars" movies with just the salary.

Of course, the most critical aspects of box office share and copyright and peripheral share remain the same as Gilbert Jr.'s previous director contract and have not changed.

This indirectly proves that Gilbert Jr.'s intention in making this movie was indeed to promote Scarlett Johansson.

This has forced many powerful figures in Hollywood to re-examine the relationship between Gilbert Jr. and Scarlett Johansson. They have to be careful in the future so as not to offend others for no reason and provoke Gilbert Jr.'s revenge.

For a movie that has already made a profit, what more can Warner Bros. and Disney ask for? Of course, only a satisfied smile.

Robert Iger even told his subordinates: “I initially thought that the box office of this movie would not be very high, and I was even prepared to lose money.

But I didn’t expect the movie to be profitable, which was a pleasant surprise.”

Doug Walter said: "Even if the movie loses money, it's nothing, it's just over 10 million US dollars. Gilbert Jr. is a man who knows his limits and he never makes any mistakes on big projects.

What’s more, the film not only did not lose money, but even made a profit. What else can we ask for?”

In fact, for Gilbert Jr., his current position would only be shaken if he had three or four consecutive flops, each of which was an A-level commercial film with an investment of over 100 million yuan.

For low-budget movies like "The Fault in Our Stars", it would be okay for Gilbert Jr. to lose money on ten of them.

The profits generated by the "Lord of the Rings" series are enough to make dozens of "Perfect Love" films.

Therefore, Disney and Warner still have full confidence in Gilbert Jr., not to mention that Gilbert Jr. is now shooting a fantasy adventure film in Mexico with an investment of 1.3 million US dollars, which is the most important project.

However, the joy of the two companies is unknown to outsiders. In the public's perception, if the box office of Gilbert Jr.'s movies in North America does not reach the usual level, it will be big news.

As expected, in the third week, there were more and more voices saying that Gilbert Jr. was about to go downhill. The evidence was that at the end of the third week, the North American box office of "Fault in Our Stars" was only 6806.5 million US dollars.

This is the lowest North American box office in Gilbert's career since "Final Destination".

Although the film is still in theaters, considering the box office performance of other works, "The Fault in Our Stars" has already secured the third-to-last spot at the box office.

This third-to-last box office ranking refers to the third-to-last ranking among all Gilbert Jr.'s films.

The media were in an uproar. As the vanguard media against Gilbert Jr., The Washington Post immediately reported the incident on the front page of its entertainment section.

The Washington Post first listed Gilbert Jr.'s past achievements, then combined them with the cyclical changes of other directors, and finally came to a conclusion.

“In summary, every director will decline after reaching his peak, the only difference is how fast or slow it will be. Spielberg and George Lucas have both experienced this.

"The Return of the King" is the pinnacle of Gilbert's directorial career. After the pinnacle, decline is inevitable. "The Fault in Our Stars" is just the beginning.

As we all know, the nature of the media is actually like a dog. They cheer and wave flags when the wind is favorable, and add insult to injury when the wind is unfavorable.

Now, let alone The Washington Post, a media outlet that was against Gilbert Jr., even the media outlets that used to boast about supporting Gilbert Jr. switched sides and began to speak ill of Gilbert Jr.

If you don’t know, you might think that little Gilbert is in some trouble and is really going to suffer a career setback!

Only a few media, such as the Los Angeles Business Journal, believed that although "The Fault in Our Stars" did not sell as well as Gilbert's previous films, it also achieved profitability.

Even from the perspective of return on investment, "The Fault in Our Stars" has a higher return on investment than many films, including several of Gilbert Jr.'s own films.

Unfortunately, the circulation of Los Angeles Business Journal is not as high as those of the big media, and the public is most willing to see excitement rather than facts.

So for a while, the rumor that little Gilbert was going downhill and was about to be ruined spread across North America.

The news of his decline spread all over the North American Internet, and many netizens were discussing it. Faced with such a trend, Gilbert's fans certainly did not believe it and resisted fiercely.

This level of fierce resistance is just like the fierce response made by the fans of the brothers in the previous life to defend their idols.

Of course, there were also some weak-willed fans who believed what the media said at this time.

This doesn't mean that they will no longer watch Gilbert Jr.'s movies, but they are worried about Gilbert Jr., worried that Gilbert Jr. will really go downhill as the media expected.

"Lewis, do you really believe what the media says? Little Gilbert will go downhill?" Sarati Merton looked at her friend with dissatisfaction.

Lewis frowned and said, “I think what the media said makes sense, it’s true that Gilbert Jr.’s performance in this movie wasn’t very good.

What if the next movie doesn’t perform well? Has he reached a creative bottleneck? "

Saradie Merton expressed her disappointment with her friend: "I really don't know why you would have such an idea, Lewis, Fell on Love is a good movie!

The media and online reviews were good, and the box office was also ideal.

Do you want a movie with a $1200 million investment to be compared to those with hundreds of millions of dollars? It must have a global box office of million, million, or even more than billion dollars? "

Another companion interjected, “To be honest, even for A-level commercial films with an investment of over 100 million yuan, it is normal that many films do not perform well at the box office.”

"Yes," Saradi Merton continued, "and what's more, 'The Beatles' did not incur losses and even made a profit.

How can you say that a movie that was profitable and well-received was the downfall of Gilbert's career? It doesn't make sense."

Lewis apologized: "I'm sorry, I was weak-willed and listened to the media."

"It doesn't matter. Just be more determined next time. We have to believe in little Gilbert. He is a genius." Sarati Merton always has confidence in little Gilbert.

Although Gilbert Jr. is already 32 years old, it is a bit out of place to say that he is a talented director.

However, fans who grew up with his movies still habitually call Gilbert a genius director. They have gotten used to it over the years and cannot change it.

Sarathi Merton once again spoke to this small group of fans: "Little Gilbert is also a human being, not a god, he also needs rest and buffer.

Even if you don't like this movie, you can just not watch it."

"No, I didn't say I didn't like it. I gave it a 10 on IMDB." Lewis argued. "Nonsense, I saw you gave it a 5..."

"I didn't, you got it wrong."

Seeing that the two were arguing again, Sarati Merton stopped them again: "Okay, okay, okay, whether it's ten points or five points, it's all in the past.

There are a lot of people out there who are jealous of little Gilbert, and now a lot of them are taking advantage of his misfortune, thinking that he is finished.

This is the time for us fans to play a role. I suggest that you go back and make your own preparations, mobilize other fans, and join the battle to defend Little Gilbert's reputation.

We want to show those shady people how united we are as a Gilbert fan community."

Everyone claimed yes, went back to prepare, and joined the online battle to protect little Gilbert's reputation.

In fact, there is no need for this. Words spoken will never be as satisfying as actual actions.

As long as Gilbert Jr.'s next movie can maintain its previous status as the king of the summer season, the media and some netizens and audiences who are now taking advantage of the situation and mocking him will soon change their stance.

Of course, many people now believe that according to this trend, Gilbert Jr.’s next movie is sure to flop and will not perform well.

Neither Disney nor Warner themselves had expected that an issue that they did not care much about would be hyped up so much by the outside world.

If they hadn't clearly known that "The Fault in Our Stars" made money, Disney and Warner would have thought that Gilbert Jr. had suffered the biggest defeat of the century.

So the media under Disney and Warner are still supporting Gilbert Jr., but this hype is no longer just the business of one or two media outlets, but all media outlets across the United States are involved.

Even NBS and TNT TV stations launched a special program to discuss whether Gilbert Jr.'s directing career is going downhill.

Judging from the results of the show, several experts invited all believe that although Gilbert Jr. will not go downhill too quickly, after all, in the circle of directors, he is still considered a young man.

But most experts believe that Gilbert Jr. will then fall into a period of silence.

Only Roger Ebert, Gilbert's number one fan, gave a completely different result. He believed that the experts had overlooked a basic fact, that is, "The Fault in Our Stars" was actually profitable.

How could the experts describe a profitable film as Gilbert's Waterloo? It goes against the grain.

Some experts refuted this, arguing that although "The Fault in Our Stars" achieved profitability, it did not achieve the same super high profits as "The Lord of the Rings" series, so it was a Waterloo.

Now it was Roger Ebert's turn to be surprised and angry: "I really don't understand, please, everyone, "Falling in Love" is just a $1200 million investment.

Do you want this movie to be as popular as those commercial blockbusters with hundreds of millions of dollars in investment?

In order to prove that Gilbert Jr. did suffer a career setback, have you completely ignored the operating rules and nature of the film market?

Or do you think Gilbert Jr. is God? Even a low-budget movie can achieve the same profit scale as the Lord of the Rings series or The Matrix? "

Roger Ebert's series of rhetorical questions left the experts speechless.

Indeed, Roger Ebert's question makes sense. These experts actually say such insincere words just to take advantage of the traffic from smearing Gilbert.

As long as you are interested, you will know that "The Fault in Our Stars" is definitely a successful movie. After all, it has made a profit and has a good reputation. It is not a bad movie.

You can't say that a low-budget masterpiece that generates profits is a bad movie, or even use it to attack Gilbert Jr. and say that he has failed.

But if everyone could face the essence of things, there would not be so many disputes and fun in this world.

Roger Ebert argued for Gilbert Jr., but with the hype fueled by other media, Gilbert Jr.'s defeat has changed from a rumor to a fact in the eyes of many people.

There is a lot of involvement of other Hollywood giants behind this, and these giants really hope that Gilbert Jr. will suffer a Waterloo.

So even if Gilbert Jr. didn't suffer a Waterloo, the giants artificially manipulated the media to create a Waterloo for Gilbert Jr.

As a result, young Gilbert got a new nickname, the Napoleon of the film industry. He was invincible in the early days, but then he suffered a Waterloo and his career as a director plummeted.

It’s no wonder that over the past ten years, countless people have been hoping that little Gilbert would be unlucky and fail.

Perhaps it was out of jealousy, or perhaps it was out of a dispute over interests, but in any case, it was impossible for anyone to win over little Gilbert to join their company.

If you can't get it, then destroy it.

The giant companies themselves, or the large media groups behind them, control multiple media outlets. It is obvious that Disney and Warner can only barely maintain a disadvantageous position with their power alone.

The most urgent task is to see whether Gilbert Jr. himself will come forward to respond to the Waterloo issue. This is the key.

However, Robert Iger and Doug Walter both called Gilbert Jr., told him what had happened, and advised him to focus on making the movie and not get involved in the public opinion storm.

However, this public opinion storm cannot be avoided, although the filming on the set in Mexico is closed and many media reporters cannot enter.

But for the premiere of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Gilbert Jr., the producer of the series, will definitely return.

Many media reporters were already waiting for him at that time, ready to interview him and produce shocking news. The media are best at quoting things out of context.

However, before Gilbert himself responded, the media interviewed many of Gilbert's friends and his women.

Scarlett is the first to be affected, because it is said that this movie was made by Gilbert Jr. just to support her, and now it has become a Waterloo, she has to explain it anyway, right?
However, Little Gilbert specifically instructed Sheena Boone not to respond to Scarlett in order to avoid causing unnecessary trouble.

In addition, Charlize Theron has recently resumed her business activities and frequently appeared in front of the media, and was also asked this question.

Charlize Theron got the essence of little Gilbert playing dumb: "Ah? Waterloo? Sorry, I'm not a good student, so I don't understand history."

After the reporter took great pains to explain the story of Napoleon to Charlize Theron, Charlize Theron responded seriously again: "You said Waterloo was a failure? But as far as I know, the film made a profit, didn't it?
If making money is considered a failure, then what is success? Going to the moon? "

As we all know, conspiracy theories have always been popular in North America, especially the moon landing. People in other parts of the world believe it, but people in North America are very skeptical about it.

What Charlize Theron meant by this is that what you guys are saying is as unreasonable as questioning whether the moon landing was real.

At the very least, provide evidence to support your arguments instead of making groundless guesses and maliciously distorting facts.

But if the media is fair and impartial and presents evidence, it will no longer be the uncrowned king.

The same question was asked to Leo DiCaprio, but he did not have the good temper of Charlize Theron. He listed a series of Gilbert's achievements with sharp words, which made the reporter flee in panic.

Tom Cruise also responded and supported Gilbert Jr.

"If you use this standard, then many of my films are losses, and they are Waterloo. But you can see that I am still a Hollywood star now, and I am not going downhill."

What Tom Cruise said makes sense. He had previously filmed several movies that grossed 70 to 80 million in North America and over 100 million worldwide. At that time, no one said that he had suffered a Waterloo.

There are many reasons for this uproar. The first is that the box office performance did not reach Gilbert Jr.'s usual results.

Secondly, it was the malicious stirrings of the media, coupled with the instigation of many people, that led to this incident.

But fundamentally, these few remarks cannot affect little Gilbert, and only many fools would think that little Gilbert is really going downhill.

Similar quarrels continued for several days, and finally, little Gilbert rushed back from Mexico to attend the premiere of "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets".

(End of this chapter)